LONDON, ENGLAND: Eberechi Eze of Crystal Palace during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers FC at Selhurst Park on May 20, 2025. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images
Injuries are something that have cost Arsenal dearly in the past 20 years, perhaps no more so than last season when a series of hamstring explosions derailed their title challenge.
So, it’s prudent to look at how sturdy a player is before he arrives. The past may be no predictor of the future but with some players, like Kieran Tierney, for instance, it can be clear there are likely to be problems down the road.
To date, Eberechi Eze’s career has seen one major injury and a series of smaller but frustrating interruptions.
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 17: Eberechi Eze of Crystal Palace celebrates scoring his sides goal which is later disallowed following a VAR review during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on August 17, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
That serious injury came in May 2021, when he ruptured his Achilles tendon in training with Crystal Palace.
The injury ruled him out for just over five months and forced him to miss out on England’s Euro 2020 squad just days after being called into the provisional group.
It was a freak, non-contact incident in mid-May that Eze later admitted took a heavy toll on him mentally as well as physically. Despite the length of the injury, thanks to the timing of it, Eze only missed 12 club games for Palace.
NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND: Eberechi Eze of England looks on, during the warm up prior to the international friendly match between England and Senegal at City Ground on June 10, 2025. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
“It was just a sad day,” Eze said of that injury. “I remember picking up my phone. They send a message before they select anyone, or if you’re in the preliminary squad, and I remember getting a message for England’s first-team.
“I just put my phone down in shock. To see that happen on that day was just a madness… it was just a sad day of shock, telling my parents, telling my family…. you feel helpless to be honest – it was a sad day for sure.
“Before getting injured, I was in one of those phases where you’re feeling yourself, just feeling good…. You feel like you can do whatever you want, and that’s where I was at: any game I went into, I was positive that I was going to score, assist or have a good game.
“It was just me enjoying my football, which is why…. not that there’s a good time to get injured, but for it to happen then, it felt like such a blow because I was… becoming the type of player I want to be. It just felt like a tough time to get hit like that.”
ENFIELD, ENGLAND - JUNE 06: Eberechi Eze of England and Declan Rice of England in action during a training session at Tottenham Hotspur Training Centre on June 06, 2024 in Enfield, England. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images
Since returning from that problem, Eze has not suffered anything as severe but has had recurring problems with his hamstrings.
In the 2023–24 season he missed October (3 games), then February (5).
The following season brought more of the same, with another month out in October 2024 (4).
Ankle and foot problems have also featured. A high ankle ligament injury in December 2023 (3) was followed by several short absences at the end of 2024, including missing the 5-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates, with pain and swelling that needed careful management.
In April 2024, he was also sidelined briefly with a knee injury, though he returned within two weeks and missed just one game.
Most of Eze’s problems have been measured in weeks rather than months, and his recovery from the Achilles rupture was praised by Palace staff as exemplary.
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